Monday kicks off a weeklong series of events for foodies and non-foodies alike, when The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach presents "The Art of Living Well from Farm to Table … a Cultural Experience."

The events include demonstrations, cooking classes, lunch-and-learns - even a farmers market on Saturday, May 5, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. - at The Cultural Center, 50 Executive Way, Ponte Vedra Beach.

The highlight, however, promises to be Thursday's Farm-to-Table Dinner at Nocatee's Crosswater Hall. Chefs and farmers will come together to create a menu featuring locally-grown, seasonal ingredients.

Menchies Frozen Yogurt operates more shops in Florida (33) than any other state. And another 15 are planned - including the first in Northeast Florida, according to the company's website.

The Encino, Calif.-based frozen yogurt concept plans its first Jacksonville restaurant at 13170 Atlantic Blvd., next door to Publix at Harbour Place shopping center.

A food service site plan for the restaurant was approved in March by the state's Division of Business and Professional Regulation. Build-out of the space, however, has yet to begin.

Menchies will join a crowded frozen yogurt market in Jacksonville that includes hometown startups Yobe and Yogurt Co., as well as national chains TCBY, Sweet Cece's Frozen Yogurt & Treats, Mochi Frozen Yogurt and others.

But Menchies appears to be one of the first - if not the first - self-serve, weigh-and-pay froyo stores to plan a shop on the busy corridor. (TCBY and Happy Cup Frozen Yogurt Bar have stores along the Beaches segment of Atlantic.)

French Week at restaurants

A number of Jacksonville restaurants are participating in the city's inaugural French Week celebration, part of the Sesquiquadricentennial festivities surrounding the anniversary of French Huguenot Capt. Jean Ribault's arrival on the St. Johns River 450 years ago.

When you treat your mother to breakfast, brunch or lunch at First Watch this Mother's Day, First Watch will treat her, too.

The restaurant, which has two locations in the Jacksonville area, is offering a complimentary box of Russell Stover Chocolates to all mothers who dine at First Watch on Sunday, May 13. (The offer is good while supplies last; dine-in only.)

The "Shiny Spoon" awards are back this week, the honors going to a barbecue vendor and stadium concessionaire.

Each week, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Hotels and Restaurants releases a list of restaurants, caterers and mobile food vendors that have received zero safety or sanitation violations during inspections within the last 12 months.

Following inspections last week, the following have achieved that honor and are awarded a Shiny Spoon:

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